Battle of Quatre Bras

The Battle of Quatre Bras (16 June 1815) was a battle of the Napoleonic Wars that occurred at the start of the Hundred Days campaign. Napoleon I decided to drive a wedge between the Coalition forces by sending Michel Ney with 18,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry to defend the crossroads at Quatre Bras; this could prevent the Duke of Wellington's British, Dutch, and German army of 36,000 troops from joining forces with Gebhard von Blucher at Ligny. At Quatre Bras, Marshal Ney's army held off numerous Allied attacks as more and more reinforcements arrived, and he managed to prevent the Allies from reinforcing the Prussians at Ligny; had Wellington's army arrived there, Napoleon may have been defeated there instead of Waterloo. The fighting stopped at 9:00 PM, and the French withdrew with 4,000 losses, while the British took the field with 4,800 losses, including the leader of the Black Brunswickers, Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Ney's fight at Quatre Bras saved the French at Ligny, but it slowed the French advance and allowed for Wellington to withdraw to Waterloo, leading to the French defeat.